Editorials

Hey, you never know

August 21, 2013

The New York State Lottery has a slogan that: All you need is a dollar and a dream. Well, Lake Placid hosting another Winter Olympics may fall into the dream category, but it's a start.

Far-fetched? Well, the 2014 Winter Olympics are scheduled to be held in Sochi, Russia. Let's consider that the current state of U.S.-Russian relations have hit a low - and may get even lower.

For starters, Russia is harboring fugitive leaker Edward Snowden who has given up secrets of the National Security Agency. That alone has led to President Barack Obama to cancel the bilateral presidential summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Russia is about sign a deal to support new Iranian nuclear facilities. Recently, the U.S. approved legislation known as the Nuclear Iran Prevention Act.

Russia continues to support Syria's Bashar al-Assad. The United States and its allies say Assad has used chemical weapons in Syria's civil war, leading President Obama to provide military support to opposition groups.

And to top it all off, Russia has just passed legislation that criminalizes public displays of support for gays and lesbians, a move that has been condemned by athletes, sports officials and politicians worldwide.

Then there is the safety issue. Sochi is located in a region surrounded by rebellious groups that would like nothing better than to lead a terrorist plot and disrupt a symbol of unity in the Olympics. Certainly Russia - as with any Olympic host - will be taking gargantuan efforts to prevent terrorism, but the threat will be thrown into this mix for the sake of argument.

And that brings us back to Lake Placid hosting another Winter Olympics.

What if for some reason, the U.S. and a bunch of other nations wind up boycotting the Sochi Games? Granted that is a remote possibility, but what if it did?

What if there was a last-minute effort to change the venue and/or hold some type of Olympic Games somewhere else? Why not have Lake Placid on the radar screen just in case? At the very least, it may open the door for serious consideration in the future.

No one is screaming that the sky is falling. But, all of the aforementioned situations could snowball. OK, there is no Cuban Missile Crisis here, but it may not hurt for local officials to reach out to the International Olympic Committee or even members of Congress to at least mention Lake Placid and the surrounding regions (Plattsburgh, Albany and Montreal) as a possible Olympic site.

Chances are that another Cold War is not around the corner, the 2014 Sochi Games will not be boycotted, the Games will go on without political interferences and terrorism will not show its ugly head.

Chances are that a 2014 Lake Placid Winter Olympics is a pipe dream.

But then again, what are the odds of winning the lottery? Well, again to coin some lottery phrases: "Hey, you never know" and "You got to be in it to win it." So all those who wish of another Lake Placid Olympics, dare to dream.